NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Saints (4-7) helped two divisions make history Monday night with their 34-27 loss to the Baltimore Ravens (7-4).
The NFC South is now the only division in NFL history with every team at least three games below .500 at any point in the season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. And the AFC North is now the only division to ever have every team at least three games above .500.
Remarkably, New Orleans is still tied for first with the Atlanta Falcons (4-7), despite having lost three straight games -- all at home.
Obviously, that’s a great incentive to keep plugging away. In any other division or any other season, New Orleans would just be playing out the string at this point.
But it should come as no surprise that Monday night, the Saints weren’t taking any comfort or motivation from the rest of the division’s failures when their own are so prevalent.
“I ain’t even worried about no hunt. There ain’t no hunt when you’re 4-7,” Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis said when asked about still being in the playoff hunt. “You gotta worry about winning the next game. There’s no such thing as a hunt when you’re 4-7.”
“You don’t really take a lot of solace right now after a loss,” coach Sean Payton said. “Obviously, to be playing for something is important. And yet we’ve gotta make sure that some of the things we did better tonight we continue to build on, and then some of the things we didn’t do well, we get corrected. … I completely see -- and our players completely see -- ‘Hey, these are some things we’ve gotta be better at. And if we’re not, then it’s not gonna matter.’”
The Falcons currently hold tiebreakers based on head-to-head record and division record. But the Saints could erase those tiebreakers by winning their final three games within the division (vs. Carolina in Week 14, vs. Atlanta in Week 16, at Tampa Bay in Week 17).
That alone might be enough to win the division at 7-9.
Heck, the Saints might even still be considered the front-runners -- as NBC analyst Rodney Harrison suggested.
But as offensive tackle Zach Strief pointed out, the Saints still have to figure out how to actually start winning games for any scenario to play out.
“The reality is this team needs to fix itself, because it’s not gonna matter. Because we have to win games,” Strief said. “So if it wasn’t that scenario, it shouldn’t change what guys are playing for in here. If you can’t elevate yourself to care enough based on pride and based on responsibility to each other to your fans to your coaches, then you’re not a professional. So it shouldn’t matter.
“The reality is all we have to worry about is fixing ourselves, because everything’s gonna come from that. If we don’t fix ourselves, nothing else matters.”